page_title: Kamchatka Krai
section_title: Nature
hierarchical_section_title: Kamchatka Krai / Geography / Nature
caption_attribution_description: Volcano Koryaksky, Kamchatka, shot from a small hill located near the center of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
context_page_description: Kamchatka Krai is a federal subject of Russia. It is geographically located in the Far East region of the country, and it is administratively part of the Far Eastern Federal District. Kamchatka Krai has a population of 322,079.
  Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is the largest city and capital of Kamchatka Krai, and home to over half of the krai's population.
  Kamchatka Krai was formed on July 1, 2007, as a result of the merger of Kamchatka Oblast and Koryak Autonomous Okrug, based on the voting in a referendum on the issue on October 23, 2005. The okrug retains the status of a special administrative division of the krai, under the name of Koryak Okrug.
  The Kamchatka Peninsula forms the majority of the krai's territory, separating the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea in the Pacific Ocean. The remainder is formed by a minor northern mainland portion, Karaginsky Island and the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea. It is bordered by Magadan Oblast to the west and Chukotka to the north. Kamchatka Krai is an active volcanic zone which is home to Kluchevskaya, the largest volcano in Eurasia, and the Decade Volcanoes of Avachinsky and Koryaksky.
context_section_description: Most of the peninsula is covered with forests of stone birch, while alder and cedar elfin are commonly found at higher altitudes. In central areas, especially in the Kamchatka River valley, widespread forests of larch and spruce can be found. In floodplains, forests grow with fragrant poplar, alder, Chosenia, and Sakhalin willow. In the second tier, undergrowth such as the common hawthorn, Asian cherry, Kamchatka rowan, and shrubs growing Kamchatka elderberries, Kamchatka honeysuckle, meadowsweet, willow shrubs, and many other species.
  More than 14.5% of the territory of the Kamchatka Territory is specially protected. There are six protected areas of federal significance (three state reserves, one federal reserve "South Kamchatka", two spa areas – "Resort Paratunka", "Malkinskie mineral waters"); four natural parks of regional significance ("Nalychevo", "Bystrinsky", "South Kamchatka", "Kluchevskoy"); 22 reserve of regional importance; 116 monuments of nature; four protected areas (landscape natural park "Blue Lake", Southwest and Tundra Sobolewski reserves).
  Kronotsky Nature Reserve is a nature area reserved for the study of natural sciences in the remote Russian Far East, on the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. It was created in 1934 and its current boundary contains an area of 10,990 square kilometers (4,240 sq mi). It also has Russia's only geyser basin, plus several mountain ranges with numerous volcanoes, both active and extinct. Due to its often harsh climate and its mix of volcanoes and geysers, it is frequently described as the "Land of Fire and Ice".
  It is mainly accessible only to scientists, plus approximately 3,000 tourists annually who pay a fee equivalent to US$700 to travel by helicopter for a single day's visit. Kronotsky Nature Reserve has been proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
caption: Koryaksky volcano towering over Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
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